COHOES -- John Barnes felt like he had something to prove on Thursday afternoon.

The South Troy Dodgers pitcher has the highest ERA on the squad at 2.33, but still earned the start in the opening round of this year's Upper New York State Mickey Mantle tournament.

Barnes did his job though, recording six strikeouts and leading the Dodgers to a 3-2 victory over the Greenbush Devil-Cats.

"I had a lot of adrenaline pumping in the beginning," the 15-year old pitcher said. "I was just hoping to come out and throw strikes. I wanted to give my team the chance to get the ball and make plays."

With plenty of pitches available to him, the Greenwich native found a rhythm, making it difficult for Greenbush to get any kind of offensive movement early in the game.

"My cutters was working a lot," he said. They couldn't seem to hit that. My fast ball and my curveball were pretty good too."

While Barnes was taking care of things on defense for the Dodgers, South Troy's bats were

just as active, jumping out to a two run lead after the first inning.

Second baseman Tyler Casavant got things started for the early lead, connecting on a single that helped sparked a three-hit inning for the Dodgers.

The South Troy bats got under the skin of Greenbush starting pitcher Chris Witherell early, taking advantage of every opportunity they could.

"He couldn't really get in rhythm," Dodger coach Doug LaValley said of Witherell. "We just did enough. But that was a good baseball game."

The Devil-Cats kept it a game in the third inning, tying up the game at two all off a two-run

RBI double by center fielder Alex Tomlinson.

"I made a bad pitch and the kid hit it," Barnes said of the play. "I didn't really know how to react. I was a little upset with myself."

Despite being only in the bottom of the third, the Dodgers were essentially able to wrap up

their victory in their next at bat. Connecting on his second hit of the afternoon, first baseman John Novenche, drilled an RBI double to deep left field, sending Ryan Henchey across home plate for what would be the game-winning run.

"We wanted to come out in this game, the first one here, and get everything out of the way," Novenche said. "The first game can be a little shaky. We had to play through it and we played well."

Both teams' bats quieted throughout the rest of the game with neither the Dodgers of the Devil-Cats connecting on another hit for the final four innings.

As has been their m.o. all season though, South Troy was able to contain their opponent,

even with a slow offense, thanks to a solid defense and tremendous presence on the pitching mound.

After allowing two runs, four hits and two walks, Barnes was replaced by JT Sawyer, who came into Thursday's matchup with a 1.09 ERA and undefeated record.

Sawyer was able to successfully close out the game for the Dodgers; fanning four batters while still relying on his fielders should the ball be put in play.

"I'm always confident in our defense," the Hoosic Valley native said. "We have extremely good defense. If I let them hit the ball, they'll be there."

The victory sends the Dodgers to the winners' bracket of the tournament, where they'll face off against Bethlehem at 1 p.m. this afternoon.

With one victory under their belts, South Troy is confident that they've got more than enough talent to make winning a habit.

"We've got the potential to go pretty far in this competition," LaValley said. "I think we could